Dante&Lulu: The Kiss
by Emma R2
Summary: Dante Falconeri goes to the Haunted Star to track down one of Sonny's business partners and encounters Hurricane Lulu instead. T for slight cursing sorry Ethan fans. Apologies, wanted to throw it out here before the carnival hence no BETA. bad move!


Dante&Lulu: The Kiss

'Of course, he's here' Lulu thought to herself as Mr. Annoying cut off her quick exit from Ethan and the Haunted Star. First he shows up at the hospital on one of THE MOST embarrassing days of her life and now he's got to be here just after she found out that her new brother is a ruthless con who set up a plan to exploit poor Nikolas. 'He's being wasted as a mobster' she mused. Dominic's natural sense for showing up at when she was potentially at her worst would've been perfect for a school principal, or a reporter. She corrected herself, not a reporter – no. A reporter wasn't annoying enough - a paparazzi! Yep. Dominic would've made terrific paparazzi.

Dante had headed over to the Haunted Star because he'd heard one of Sonny's new business partners liked to gamble. Easy enough - Uncle Vito had liked to gamble. Uncle Vito had held a regular poker game every week when Dante was growing up, and despite Olivia's protests, the boys had made him beer butler. He learned five-card stud when he was old enough to reach the table without a stool. When he turned seventeen, Olivia had been less than thrilled when Uncle Vito took him to Atlantic City to teach him blackjack. Dante had lost car privileges for a month. But despite what his mother thought, that little field trip was coming in handy. Dante felt at home in a casino. Which is why his plan was so simple. Lose a little to warm the guy up and get him talking. Simple and perfect.

Except the guy wasn't there and then he was nearly run over by Hurricane Lulu.

'He's an idiot', she shook her head as she watched Ethan goad him into a card game. 'He's so cocky he can't see he's being set up'. She'd almost decided to let Ethan wipe him out completely, but then he flashed that stupid grin at her, that stupid cocky grin and those big dark eyes. Something about those eyes didn't quite match that grin. The grin was charming; the grin said, "to hell with the world, I'll do what I want" but those eyes. The eyes were different. Fun and laughter, yes, and charm but much more. The eyes seemed to be …she caught herself, as she was about to say lonely.

Dante was surprised. That smug fake Australian brother of Lulu's was on a winning streak. 'Typical' he sighed 'whatever happened to unlucky in love, lucky in cards or whatever it was?' Ever since he'd gotten to Port Chuck he was batting zero when it came to the ladies. Not his usual, at all. Then again, maybe his losses to her brother might mean Lulu was warming up to him. Yep. That must be it. He looked up and gave her a wink. Lulu scowled in response, as did the ruthlessly chic woman standing beside her. Eek. Dante decided to give the ladies a moment to cool down and focused on his game. Suddenly he saw a pair of shapely legs in a pair of high-heeled shoes stride up to the table.

"You can never beat Ethan." Lulu spoke determinedly. Dante couldn't help but react like it was a challenge.

"Oh ye of little faith! I'd like a chance to prove the lady wrong." His voice trailed off as she grabbed Ethan's arm, and pulled cards out from his sleeve.

"Aces. Read 'em and weep." She threw them onto the table with a flourish. He looked over at that smarmy bastard and Ethan just grinned at him. Dante hated cheats. He felt his fists clench, but held back. A little touch of Bensonhurst justice might be satisfying right now, but could jeopardize his cover and possibly destroy a year and a half of careful police work. Add the chance that beating up her brother could alienate Lulu and Dante managed to control himself.

Lulu hated the look that crossed Dominic's face when he realized he'd been had. He was angry, of course, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst was that first moment when those big eyes had widened and that cocky self-assurance had been shaken. He looked vulnerable. 'Vulnerable' and 'Dominic' did not go together. Lulu couldn't help but feel protective.

"Give him his money back. " Lulu said in a tone that brooked no argument. Ethan just grinned wider until Lulu stuck her hand out in front of his face. "NOW. I'm not kidding." Ethan was wavering but Lulu gave him her patented death glare.

"I was just trying to help, Lulu" Dante found he didn't like the way the Australian said her name. 'Brother and sister, huh?' Dante thought to himself. Lulu snatched the money and dropped it in front of Dante.

"Here you go. Count it. If it's short you have my permission to beat him stupid." Dante laughed. She WAS feisty. Dante needed someone feisty. Quiet little princesses could never keep up with him. In fact, she was ahead of him. He stopped to count the bills and Lulu took that moment to do a runner. With quick reflexes born of natural athleticism and intense training at the Academy, Dante just managed to catch her.

"Please just - just stop following me." Lulu was tired and wanted to go home. She was worried about Nikolas, and wanted to be able to process the news about Ethan. And Dominic was really getting on her nerves now. It had been a long day, and he'd seen her at her worst – twice - and she really wasn't in the mood to be charmed. But apparently that didn't matter because Dominic didn't seem to care. He was determined to charm her. "I'm sorry this is not going to happen. Not now. Not in this lifetime, not in the next lifetime –"

"WOW, you've really thought about this haven't you?" Dante laughed. He could see that despite her frustration, he was getting through to her. She was starting to enjoy the banter. He'd finally gotten a smile out of her and it was worth all the work and almost losing everything he had to that fake idiot brother of hers. One smile was never enough for Dante. "It's probably for the best, I'm probably a little too much for you right now." Another smile. 'That's two,' he thought.

"Oh, that's very cute, but reverse psychology doesn't work on me." Doesn't he realize I'm Luke Spencer's daughter? Lulu thought to herself. She'd heard every line in the book.

"Wow! It's a deeper Issue than I thought!" Dominic was off on some other nonsense now, yakking on about obsessions and vices. "You know if

"Oh, oh my God – so if I kiss you, will you just go away?" Lulu was slightly offended that he didn't even react to that.

" You know, we all do have our vices. Mine for instance, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce –" Dante knew she just needed a slight push more. This way she couldn't claim that he misinterpreted anything.

"Seriously, will you just shut-up." Lulu was exasperated.

"- but I've faced that demon, I've got a handle on it now" Dominic was still talking and talking and talking. Lulu was at the end of her patience. Or so she told herself later when she realized it was she who grabbed him. That was the motivation, she told herself – as she tried to justify her actions to herself. She didn't remember exactly how it happened but she remembered the feel of his slightly rough jaw in her hand, his warm mouth.

The kiss was gentle and fairly innocent but this was Lulu Spencer and Dante wasn't feeling at all innocent. He was ecstatic that it worked. She was still skittish, but her gentle hand was on his face, and her velvety lips were on his. Dante couldn't stop his arm from going around her, but he held tightly onto his control and didn't push too hard. She was still skittish and he didn't want to scare her. He was reveling in the light citrus scent of her hair when a sudden burst of heat flared up between them and someone gasped. It was enough to make her step back, one hand on her mouth.

Dante was breathing deeply and his pulse was racing. It didn't matter how much Lulu tried to control the kiss, Dante thought. There was fire between them. He looked at her. She was surprised, he could tell. She was touching her mouth like it was bruised. She looked up at him. He raised one shoulder in a light shrug.

Lulu was surprised that her mouth felt so dry. She licked her lips and she felt Dominic's eyes zero in. 'Oh no!' she thought to herself. 'No, no, no, no not again!' She looked up at him and he had that stupid cocky grin on his face. Lulu shook her head.

"No. No way! You've thanked me. Fine. We're done. You don't ever need to thank me again… EVER." Lulu planted her hands on squarely on her hips. Dominic didn't say anything. That stupid grin just grew wider. Lulu felt heat rise on her cheeks. Oh no, she WAS NOT blushing! Dominic's eyes were positively dancing, if eyes could dance that is. Oh crap. "OOOOh, you're so…..ARGH!" Lulu turned and stalked off. Dante watched her leave, and suddenly he suddenly felt like whistling. He never felt like whistling before, but today seemed a good day to start.


End file.
